This invention relates to apparatus for covering a used hypodermic syringe needle.
Accidental skin puncture by a used hypodermic syringe needle places health care providers, such as doctors, nurses, medical assistants, and others, at grave risk from exposure to highly infectious diseases, some of which have no presently known cure or which are very difficult to treat, for example, the AIDS virus and hepatitis.
Numerous apparatus are known to the art for covering a used syringe needle to prevent accidental skin puncture from the needle.
However, it is believed that there still exists a need in the art for new and improved apparatus for covering a used hypodermic syringe needle whose components are relatively inexpensive to manufacture, relatively inexpensive to assemble, and which apparatus can be sold relatively inexpensively.
It is the object of the present invention to satisfy the foregoing need in the art.
Apparatus for covering a used hypodermic syringe needle and satisfying the foregoing need may include a base, a pair of covers mounted movably to the base, and at least one latching member mounted to the base. The covers are for being moved into a closed position over the needle. The covers are engaged making the movement of each cover dependent on the movement of the other cover, and the latching member is for engaging at least one of the covers to lock both of the covers in the closed position. In the preferred embodiment, a pair of latching members are mounted to the base and the pair of latching members independently engage the covers to cause either or both of the latching members to lock both of the covers in the closed position.